Touches of Truth
by Ninja0Squirl
Summary: Ed and Al return to normal, but at what price? AlWin, small EdPsiren, Edvy, Warning: Swear words, implied sexual content, rape. Also- Ed's dying.
1. Chapter 1

**I. Victory**

This was it, Al's body. He would get it back, and if this didn't work, then nothing would. It was simple, and he knew Al was secretly opposed to it, the fact was, Ed felt just as bad, but they had killed animals before, he didn't feel to bad about offering some deers or a horse for his brothers body. Sighing, he watched as Al shifted uncomfortably, obviously still not liking the idea. But Ed was confident it would work, and these animals would've died anyway, they got the horse from a glue factory and bought the deer from a venison factory.

"Ready Al?"the armor nodded, and Ed took in the image, it would be the last time he saw his brother like this, He felt unbelievably accomplished.

"Yes brother."quickly they stood side-by-side, and like an event all so many years ago, nodded and slammed their hands against the transmutation circle. It was similar to before, the black hands rose up and the animals were taken away, Ed winced at the sound of their panic. He froze in shock when he realized that they he was no longer in the warehouse, but standing in place all-to familair to him.

"Why am...I here?"he asked in shock, staring at the incarnation of light, it smirked evilly.

"Guessing at prices...not right at all."he froze in shock, his thoughts whirling around him, had he guessed wrong? But he had been sure that the sacrifices were more than enough, two deer and a horse would be more than equivalent to a human body, if anything, it was overpaying! Before he could growl out a response, black hands plunged forward, he gasped, feeling one stab straight through his chest.

He awoke in the room, looking around in a panic at the sight of blood, so much blood. He hurried forward, looking, searching, not quite sure what it was, but feeling blindly for it. Finally, his hands came in contact with warm flesh, he pulled him self forward, and stared at the figure below him...

"Brother."he managed out, noting that there was no blood coming from the younger. He looked carefully before noticing the blood was coming from him, from his mouth to be precise, he hadn't even noticed the taste in his haste.

"Fullmetal!"he turned, and realized what a sight it must have looked, him, still on his belly with blood surging from his mouth into the puddles of blood over his little unconscious brother, it must have been a sight. That was all he could think before allowling himself rest.

"_You did good...you brought him back._"a voice whispered to him, it was full of desperation and pleading, and it made him almost wanted to wake up again to comfort it, but he didn't, telling himself that he would do that when he awoke.

______________________

Roy Mustang had staid besides the bed of his subordinate for quite awhile, beating himself up for not reading the report earlier. Cursing himself for not figuring it out when Ed had hurried out of the office instead of waiting for him to read said report. His thoughts revolved around self-loathing before switching to the loathsome thoughts of how it was in fact Ed's fault, he hated that part of him, the part that seemed so content with blaming others and never keeping it. It was his own damn fault!

"Br..brother."he turned in shock, it was hard to believe the teenager on the bed was Alphonse, according to the doctors he was healthy, and in a temporary coma, they'd been expecting him to come out of it the next day though. Standing he walked over, staring into the boys silver eyes, he looked like the pictures he'd seen of Trisha Elric, and Roy wondered if that was where Ed's obsession with getting his brother back had truly originated from.

"Are you alright?"he asked apathetically, he didn't trully feel as attached to Al as he did to Ed, when he was armor it was like a package deal, now that he was human, it was diffrent, as if Al and Ed could be away from each other and nobdoy would spare it an odd glance.

"Yeah...is brother alright?"he asked worriedly, silver eyes shining.

"Yes, he hasn't woken up yet, and he lost some blood."he felt slightly proud at how his face had been straight while he said it, in truth, Ed has lost a lot of blood, enough for him to need a blood transfusion.

"Oh...but...he shouldn't have."Al's eye's were furrowed in thought,"Brother used two deers and a horse, he was confident that it would be..."suddenly his eyes widened,"check his arms!"he commanded. Roy blinked curiously before the truth behind the command hit him, running over, he pulled the blanket down and stared in shock at where auto-mail had once been.

"Arms..."he gurgled out.

"Check his legs too!"Al commanded from the next bed. Roy nodded and pulled the blanket completely down, staring in shock at the two legs.

"Legs..."was all he could manage out. He felt like crying for the brothers in happiness, they had succeeded, it had worked, they were restored!

"Can I...I want to get up and see him."Roy nodded, and rushed over, helping the boy up he supported him as he walked over, Al dropped into the seat Roy had previously occupied and grabbed his brother's hand that had once been auto-mail, he felt carefully, enjoying the feel of his brother's skin. Roy stepped out, not wanting to intrude on such a private scene in the brother's life, but he couldn't help himself from letting out a whoop of joy and grabbing a nearby nurse to start making out. Success was sweet, and so was the nurse's phone number.

* * *

AN: I know, everything seems so happy...(Evil grin) not for long. Also, there is a secret emotion each chapter is featured after, try to figoure out them all!


	2. Chapter 2

**II. Hands**

Edward sat up tiredly, he rubbed his eyes, only to realize something. Cold metal against flesh, missing. He pulled his hands away staring in shock at the sight before him. Two hands, two perfect hands! He gaped silently, countiny his fingers, feeling the polished smoothness of his fingernails, the roughness of his skin against skin. Could there be any sensation better than that of a hand clapping against a hand? He felt tears prick at his eyes and rubbed them away.

"Brother?"he turned and stared in shock at his brother. His brother! Not armor, but flesh! He couldn't even describe the sound he made of joy as he clutched his brother to his chest in absolute and utter reverence.

"Al!"the armor gone boy clutched his brother back, and as if acting on clockwork, they both blinked back tears and sniffled.

"Brother, we succeeded! We got back our bodies again!"Ed laughed in joy at hearing his brother's voice without tin.

"I can't believe it Al! We finally did it!"they let go and grinned at each other. Ed couldn't describe how good it felt to grin at someone and have them grin back, just like old times.

"I know brother!"Al looked around,"Oh! Colonel left!"Ed blinked in surprise.

"Mustang was here?"Al nodded.

"Earlier, he looked really sad brother! He looked really happy when he saw that we'd succeeded, I think I even heard him whoop."Ed raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"Mustang whooping for us? That's a funny joke! But I wonder why he was here, he didn't have to check up on us."he couldn't even manage a grumpy voice on the last part he was in such a high nirvana.

"I don't know, but we have to..."suddenly Al's face went blank in horror,"we have to tell Winry your auto-mail's gone..."Ed gulped, they hadn't even retrieved properly, Winry was going to kill them!

"Eh...maybe we should, you know...um...call the doctors to make sure my concussion isn't here yet."Al blinked curiously.

"You don't have a concussion."

"Well I'm going to."Ed grimaced, Al giggled, it was like old times.

"Winry wouldn't do that to you while your in the hospital brother!"Ed sighed.

"Did you forget the last time?"Al grimaced and Ed took a minute to engrave the emotion in his mind, Al didn't grimace often, and he didn't particularly like it, but it was something Al could do now, and Ed wanted to see every emotion on Al's face.

"I guess we could ask her to visit it us without her automail repair supplies."

"Winry sleeps with her wrench, no way is she leaving it in-"he was interrupted by a slamming door and wrench to the face.

"What is this I hear about you losing your auto-"she screeched, before interrupting herself to stare at Al, she ran over and hugged him, much to the blushing boy's delight,"Al, you guys did it!"Ed scowled and rubbed his forehead.

"Jeez, told you Al, concussion."Winry would've scolded him otherwise, but she too entranced with playing with Al's now long hair.

"Oh Al, your hair's so long! We should have a sleep over so I can brush it!"Al winced and blushed.

"Aren't sleep overs for girls?"

"Oh Al, don't be like that, we're all equal!"Al turned to his bother pleadingly.

"Sorry Al, she's done the same to me, luckily, we had to leave that afternoon."Winry scowled at him, but continued to braid Al's hair.

"Brother should come to!"Al decided.

"Yeah Ed! It will be just like those sleep overs we use to have when were kids!"Ed looked back and forth between the happy and somewhat maniacal faces of his two friends and sighed in defeat.

"..Fine..."Winry and Al grinned evilly.

"As soon as your both out of the hospital we'll have one!"

"Yeah!" it was truly like old times, and Ed, despite his resistance, couldn't feel happier.

Maybe that was the warning he missed, equivalent exchange does not offer happiness without a price.

_________________________________________

Roy Mustang was not the sort of person to stare up at the sky and thank it for existing. Nor was he the type to _skip _into his office and hug every one of his subordinates, while thanking them for everything they'd done for him. He seemed to be in a sort of nirvana as he hugged them, and it wasn't until he'd finished hugging Riza and found a gun to his head that he'll felt the need to explain.

"They did it!"he shouted happily, if not nervously, the gun still pressed against his precious hair. it was silent for a moment as the news was comprehended.

The resulting whoop probably would've brought Fuhrer Bradley's wrath upon them, if he'd been there.

_________________________________________

"So their bodies have been returned to them, but how?"Dante's stolen eyes glinted with greed.

"According to research they've used animals for sacrifices."Dante nodded.

"Now, if we can get one them to do it again..."

"Why can't we get another to do it? I'm sure Those boys Lust found would be willing."Dante sighed, and rolled her eyes.

"My dear Pride, it's all a matter of pride. I want that golden pinky, and I'll throw the little one to Envy, it's simple...oh, what word does he like to use? Ah, yes...equivalent exchange."she smirked with malice, and Pride nodded.

"I like that sound of it, I'll get Mustang to send them your way as soon as possible."Donte nodded.

"Very good Pride, you may go."he nodded and walked out, excited at the prospect of his humanity finally coming.

* * *

AN: The further into this you get, you may notice that with Al's body they're trying to almost slip back in time, this is only the beginning. Sorry to Mustang (who is sooo hot) fans, but this is his last appearance for quite awhile, sorry I made him ooc, but can't you imagine him whooping for the Elrics as soon as they were out of (believed) hearing range?

Also, first Homunculi appearance! Get ready, theres alot of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**IV. Home**

Ed stood in the mirror, smiling at himself, it wasn't often he could be vain without wincing at a flash of metal. True, his skin wasn't unblemished, the scars from surgery still remained, but in a way, he was grateful, his scars spoke, telling him of his sins, but even then, he could hide them with a T-shirt and be like a normal person again, it sounded wonderful! Smiling cheerfully he slid on his shirt.

"Brother! Hurry up!"Al complained, still in the hospital pajamas.

"I'm coming!"Ed shouted, braiding his hair back, taking a moment to enjoy the softness of his hair in his once metallic palm. He walked out the bathroom feeling a bit proud and looked Al over in case he'd miraculously gotten an injury while he was in the bathroom.

"You better not have done something nasty in there!"Al complained as he walked in, Ed gagged.

"Don't say things like that!"

"Sh, brother, you'll wake up !"Ed sighed and rolled his eyes, Al sure was concerned but the lady who had the third bed in their room, but she never spoke, so Ed wasn't particularly curious about her.

"So we're meeting Winry at the train station?"Ed asked through the door.

"Yeah, but shouldn't you tell Colonel?"

"Why, I'll just turn in my watch later on."

"Brother! Won't you miss them?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you turn in your watch you won't be able to Colonel and the others."

"I...I guess not."

"Brother, don't quite the military because of me, I'll still follow you!"

"But Al! I don't want to put you in danger."

"Brother, even if you left me at home, I'd still be in danger with the Homunculi on the loose, it's better if we're together."

"Fine, I won't turn in my watch yet, but I swear if it gets to dangerous I'm sending you home!" whatever conversation might have come next was interrupted as Al came out dressed in his old clothes, Ed allowed himself a bit more pride.

"Thanks brother!"

"Jeez, you look to much like me Al, I swear I'm going to transmute your clothes to size as soon as we get back." Al nodded.

"Don't sell yourself short brother, remember Clara?"Ed grimaced.

"Which reminds me, maybe after we go to Rizembool we should head to Arquoya, Winry's always said she wanted to go to the beach, and you've never been either."Al blushed.

"Sounds good."Ed grinned.

"You still have a crush on Psiren don't you?"Al scowled.

"Nuh-uh!"He shouted, much to Ed's secret delight, he wanted to see all of Al's emotions.

"Heh, you do! I'm going to tell Winry!"he teased, Al scowled.

"Brother!"grabbing their suitcases they ran after each other and out of the hospital, not noticing three familiar homunculi appear from behind 's curtain.

"So, their headed back home, how predictable."Envy said, transforming back to human from a light bulb.

"I'm hungry!"Gluttony announced, chewing on a doctor's arm, that still clutched a clipboard. Rolling her eyes, Lust pulled the clipboard free, her eyes widening in surprise before settling into a smirk.

"How...interesting."Envy looked at her crossly.

"What is it Lust?"

"Look at this."she passed it to him as he looked it over carefully before bursting into laughter, maniacal laughter at that.

"This is rich! I'll get bastard blood and Dante will get the whore's baby!"Lust rolled her eyes.

"How do you figure that?"

"As I see it, with the fullmetal pipsqueak dying, his brother will do anything for him, even create the philosopher's stone if we have him in our as a sacrifice. I get to play with bastard blood, and Dante gets what she wants."Lust nodded.

"Have fun with that then. I'm going to go and check on the other stone resources."Envy smirked at her.

"Covering our asses, eh?"she scowled at him.

"I'd rather keep my ass covered and hopeful, thank you very much."

"Heh, well then I guess I'll head off, send any back up you want except for Wrath."Lust nodded and watched as he jumped out the window, laughing maniacally at the prospect of torturing his so called 'bastard blood' brother.

"Lust, is Envy a bad person?"Gluttony asked, poising his finger at his lip.

"No Gluttony, the military and those who get in our way are bad people."he grabbed the back of her dress as she continued to walk forward.

"Can I eat them?"he asked, his lustful face in place.

"If I say you can."she answered. Gluttony couldn't help but drool at the thought of his future meals, and Snuk a snack on his way out, he was pretty sure nobody would miss the nurse.

* * *

AN: More Homunculi! I kind of like Lust, you'll notice she sets off several of my plot points...okay one, but it was a major one! Oh, and hell yeah Lightbulb!Envy. I also like Gluttony's last little piece, it was just playing through my head head as I wrote it.

I am pretty pissed at this chapter though, but only Ed and Al's part, orginally I wrote a much, _much_ better version, thought ti did have the plothole have never mentioning the third bed until Lust appeared, I'm so pissed at myself for not backing it up on my comp.


	4. Chapter 4

** (AKA Filler)**

Ed leaned his head against the train window and stared at the scenery flying by them, sometimes the scenery was the same, and you couldn't tell the speed, and sometimes it was different and everything blurred as they passed. Winry was sound asleep beside Al, her head nuzzled into his shoulder, much to his embarrassment and secret delight. Ed was spread out as he usually was across the seat, still short enough that his legs did not fill the whole seat and there was more room available if anyone should need a seat.

"You know, it's eerie."he suddenly spoke, surprising Al.

"How so brother?"he asked, turning from staring at Winry's sleeping face.

"It's just...the last time we rode on a train completely hole like this, it was back when we were coming home from Dublith." Al pondered this.

"I guess your right brother."Al said in surprise, Ed's eyebrow twitched.

"Don't act surprised!"he complained, Al rolled his eyes.

"Bro-"he was interrupted by a sudden stop that sent Ed to the ground and jerked Winry awake. She didn't have time to blush at her position before becoming distracted.

"Passengers, we apoligize for the inconvience but it seems that there is a cow on the tracks and until the move, I'm afraid we'll be taking a stop."they sighed," your free to explore the town, please report back in two hours."

"Guess we'll being adding a place to our vacation."Ed murmured, leading the way out, suitcase in hand. It was perhaps almost nostalgic that when Ed got out of the train he was tackled to the ground.

"Shrimp!"cried a familiar voice.

"Klose!"Ed cried happily, hugging the girl back. The girl let go and looked around, much to Al's amusement. Winry watched on in confusion.

"Where's your tin can?"she asked, Al scowled.

"I'm not a tin can!"he screamed, Klose blinked in surprise.

"You actually came out of your armor?"she asked, Al sighed.

"Yep!"he answer, as cheerfully as he could.

"It's good to finally see you then! Who's that?"she asked, pointing at the one confused party member.

"I'm Winry Rockbell."she introduced, holding a hand, Klose took it carefully.

"I'm Klose, are you Ed and Al's friends?"

"Yes."she nodded happily, glad to finally meet some of Ed and Al's friends.

"Oh, do you three want to come over for lunch? We're having fish and lemon pie!"Ed smiled.

"Sure Klose, Al's been wanting to try some lemon pie, eh Al?"Klose looked at the younger in shock.

"You've never had lemon pie! Come on Al, you can't ever be a big girl...or boy!"she quickly added at his scandalized glance," until you've had lemon pie!"she quickly dragged him off.

"Heh."Ed chuckled. Winry smiled.

"It's good to see you two like this,"he turned to her startled,"acting like to normal teenagers instead of your usual over dramatic selves."Ed paused to think about this before tackling her, Winry shocked, quickly tried to pin him as Al had once taught her during a visit, they scuffled until Ed was on top of her, he smirked down.

"Well it's good to see you act like a normal teenager instead of an auto-mail freak."if she could've reach her wrench she would've nailed him,"now go and flirt with Al for awhile."she blushed furiously under his gaze.

"I-I don't know what your talking about!"she huffed, Ed raised an eyebrow.

"I'm so sure, Ms. pretend-to-fall-asleep-on-a-train!"Winry's blush deepened if it were possible.

"Asshole."she said, kneeing his thigh dangerously close to certain other parts, standing she turned stuck her tongue out at him,"Last one there has to be it!"she joked, echoing a scene from long ago as she turned and ran off. Smiling happily Ed stood and ran after her, it was as if the years had melted away, and they were little kids again, teasing each other until they reached the house where Al was being force-fed lemon pie.

"Heh, your it!"he announced happily, Winry rolled her eyes and walked inside tapping Al's shoulder.

"No, Al is."

"I'm what?"he asked angrily, while Klose tried to shove another piece of pie into his mouth.

"It."Ed replied, leaning cheekily against the door.

"Oh."Al tapped Klose,"Brother, are you delusional? Klose is it!"Klose blinked, before scowling and jumping Ed.

"Ed's it!"she yelled. the spent a good two hours going back and forth, occasionally with the addition of Klose chasing after Al with pie.

"Sorry Klose."Ed finally said, panting abit, his face flushed with the excitement of the day,"if we don't leave now we'll miss our train."

"Oh, okay, but you'll visit again soon, right?"she asked.

"Sure Klose, send a postcard up to Central and we'll be down here faster than you can say 'I wish Ed and Al were here',"Klose giggled.

"Thanks Ed!"she hugged him tightly, while Al and Winry watched fondly.

"Ed's growing up."she murmured to him, Al looked at her in surprise before smiling and nodding.

"Nah, he's always been like this, I think all that's grown is his ability to show it."Winry's smile widened.

"Come on, let's get back to the train."Ed said, still waving at Klose.

"Race you there!"Al yelled, taking off. Winry and Ed looked at each other, smiled, and took off in excitement.

__________________________________

"Heh, enjoy life while you can FullMetal pipsqueak."Envy chuckled as he watched. The stop here had been strategically planned, he turned to the tiny girl he'd made a deal with.

"Hello?"she asked.

"There you are, now did you put it in the food?"the girl nodded fearfully.

"Yes, c-can I have my daddy back now?"she asked.

"Take him, he's useless to me anyway."he shoved the man forward, the girl quickly grabbed him.

"Daddy are you okay?"

"I'm fine Klose, but what did you put in the lemon pie?"her father demanded, she looked down at the great shame facedly.

"He gave me a bottle of stuff to give Al a fever..."her father turned and glared.

"Your sick man, may the flames of hell eat at your soul for eternity."Envy smirked at the man.

"They already are old man."with that, he transformed into a black cat, much to their amazement, and disappeared into the darkness, glowing purple eyes the only sign he'd even been there.

* * *

AN: See? reverting back to old times! My favorite scene is when Ed's on top of Winry grinning and she acts like she's going to knee '_them_' and then runs off and he might as well have skipped after her, that just made me laugh when I thought the actual scene out. I also decided to take the anime route with fillers, I mean the only one that didn't have some essential part of the plot (that is plausible to skip over) is the Klose town, so I had to go back and make it right of course! So yeah, Klose is just one hell of a bitch, but then again, we all thought that when she was a paperboy to.


	5. Chapter 5

**V. Innocence**

Rizembool looked the same as ever, not that Rizembool had ever actually changed. Winry smiled cheerfully and waved to familiar faces, Ed proudly marched behind her, with Al shyly walking behind him, visibly blushing at the curious glances he kept getting.

_"Looks 'lot like Trisha Elric."_

_"Maybe tha' one son too, ya know, Ed's brother."_

_"Didn't he run off?"_

"So!"Winry said, turning slightly, they stopped in surprise,"How do we tell Granny?"Ed and Al looked at her curiously.

"Uhm...wouldn't she kind of realize?"Winry pouted.

"It's no fun when you act innocent Ed! We have to surprise her!"

"Okay..uhm..."Ed began to ponder, they stood there thinking, surprisingly it was the least violent of the group that figured out the best way. They leaned in to hear it carefully before pulling back to smile evilly at him.

"Oh, your evil Al!"Winry chuckled.

"I feel so proud!"Ed cried, Winry and Ed hugged in joy at the prospect of their mind's rubbing off on him, Al sighed.

"You guy's are wasting time!"

______________________________

Granny Pinako Rockbell could say that she had seen nearly everything in her life, but seeing Winry and Ed walk up holding hands and positively blushing without a suit of armor tailing them was a sight she thought she'd never see. Walking out the door she took a puff of her pipe to greet them and ask of Al's where abouts. But as they grew closer she began to notice something odd about Ed, for one thing, he was wearing an outfit she hadn't seen him in a long while, he was slightly taller, and his hair wasn't the exact shade of Ed's,as if it'd been died that color, and his eyes, they glinted silver instead of Gold.

"Hey Granny!"Winry called. The not-Ed waved.

"Winry, where's Ed, and whose this?"The two looked at each other in surprise before pouting.

"Jeez Granny, couldn't you have fallen for it this once?"the real Ed suddenly appeared, sleek as a cat, from around the corner of automail repairs, Granny heaved a sigh and puffed her pipe, wondering how he'd escaped her detection.

"So who,"she indicated the strange not-Ed,"is this?" he grinned, Ed walked over, clapped his hands, and slung his arm around non-Ed's neck.

"That would be Al."

Granny Pinako could say that she had seen nearly everything in her life, but she had never truly expected to see the sight before her. Smiling she nodded.

"Welcome home."the three that stood before her were linked souls, forever meant to stand together, she couldn't help but feel.

_______________________________

Lust and Gluttony arrived at Dante's place impatiently, the elderly body-stealer scowled at them.

"What are you doing here?"

"We're here to report information on the Elrics and Envy."Dante raised an eyebrow.

"Envy is currently is stalking Edward, he has decided to go against your plan, he wants to torture Edward and give you Alphonse, for reasons you will understand."Dante raised an eyebrow.

"And when will I understand these reasons?"

"When Envy returns with the papers, he wants to get them to the Elrics."

"And what do these papers say?"Lust sighed, Dante was well aware of Lust's photographic memory.

"It's difficult to understand, but from what I could gleam, he's suffering from a terminal illness, he's going to die."Dante raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't stop our plans I supose, we'll go Envy's route, so why are you here?"Lust raised an eyebrow.

"I want to cover our asses, as Envy says, Gluttony and I will check up on other stone projects, send Wrath to work with Envy."

"I suppose so, go on, touch the bases and whatnot."Lust rolled her eyes and left.

"I'm hungry!"Gluttony complained.

"Don't eat the door!"Dante shouted after them.

* * *

AN: "Don't eat the door!"is my new favorite line ever. But come on, who hasn't thought it? Which reminds me, why in the hell hasn't Gluttony eaten a door in anime!verse? I mean in Manga!verse he had a freaking gate in his stomach! I'm done with Gluttony's confuzabilty. As for Dante, can't you just see her as an old lady saying stuff like "whatnot"? Oh, and disease! Come on, somebody try and guess right now whether or not Ed's going to live or not, come on and guess! As for the plothole of how Ed got on the side of the auto-mail shop...I'm not particularly sure but that scene was really really hot to me, imangine Ed dressed in black leaning against a shady wall...(drool)

As for why Ed clapped his hands, for you idiots out there who can't make good assumptions, he did so to un-transmute Al's hair, now this is not my plothole, this is anime plothole. Notice that after getting caught Ed's hair turns back to blonde? This is the only way I can see he fixed it, but then again, everything Ed does in anime goes against alchemy's laws. I mean if it's a A for B then it makes sense (Javalin/spear thing), if it mix A's properties with B's properties it makes sense (Chimera), but if it's just get rid of A, how does it work?


	6. Chapter 6

**VI. Breathing**

Ed sighed as they set out the sleeping bags. He was well aware of how the sleep over would go, they would probably spend half the night reminiscing and the other half playing with Al. He was only half right, instead it was more like when they were children, Winry and Al talked about kittens and adorableness and Arquoya while WInry played with Al's hair, finally teasing it into a french braid, and at one point as they did separate halves of Ed's hair, who found himself not minding it as much as he thought it would be, the two were extremely carefully and it was very relaxing. As night drew near they ate stove-cooked smores and curled up tiredly in there sleeping bags. He was exhausted but he stayed up, leaning against the couch and watching as Winry and Al unconsciously scooted closer to each other, snickering slightly, he lay down his eyes fluttering shut.

It was then that he felt the difficulty to breath, as if he were drowning, quickly he sat up, and as quietly as he could, coughed into his sleeve, sighing in relief when the fit ended he tried once more to lay back down, only for a similar incident to take place, wincing at Al's small moan, he quietly stood and climbed onto the couch, well aware he'd get a wrench for doing it later on but not particularly caring, he curled into it, his head on the armrest at such an angle that no more incidents occurred.

The very thought that said incidents had occurred scared him, he'd always had good health, colds every know and then, but everyone had those, other than that and occasional calcium deficiency he'd always been fine, never even a wheeze passing his lips, but now. He frowned, remembering back to Klose and the tag incident, he'd been panting by the end of it, but Winry and Al had been able to race to train unhindered, that was unusual, usually they were exhausted and he was all energy, but that time... he was surprised that they hadn't noticed it before. His frown deepened, there was something going on with his body he did not understand, and if he didn't discover what it was by the time he left Arquoya he worried what might happen.

The next morning, he awoke to the sound of wretching instead of the wrench he'd expected, quickly sitting up he stared in shock as he saw his little brother covering the Rockbell's wooden floors with vomit. Quickly he jumped down from the couch, avoiding the puddles of waste he gently joined Winry in trying to calm him down.

"It's okay Al..."he murmured, finally he calmed down enough to stop.

"Ugh...I don't feel well..."he moaned, Ed carefully felt Al's forehead, frowning.

"He feels warm, I think it might be a small fever."Winry nodded in agreement.

"Come on Al, let's get you to a proper bed,"the tired boy nodded, allowing Ed and Winry to lift him up and into the bed.

"I'll get some towels to cool him down."Winry walked out quickly as Ed stayed by the bed, his face pulled into a frown as he tried to keep his brother calm and evenly tempered.

______________________

Wrath watched in curiosity as the blond boy watched over his brother,"Do we get him now Envy?" the green haired man just frowned.

"Yes Wrath, we can get him now."he shifted into a cat slid in, while Wrath simply merged with the wall to walk through. they were quite about ti, walking up slowly behind him until it was too late for him to struggle. Wrath quickly merged with one of his arms while Envy covered his mouth. Wrath slid through the wall with Ed and Envy in tow. It was a successful and silent kidnapping, and nobody would realize it until it was far to late for Edward Elric to be saved.

_____________________

"Ed?"Winry asked curiously, noticing that the mutterings that had been there before had suddenly become silent, tiptoeing in she set down the water bowl and placed a towel on Al's head, look around curiously.

"There was a palm tree, WInry."Al said, eyes glazed over in fever. Winry sighed.

"I guess he went out for some air."shrugging it off she continued her work, it wasn't until later, when no Ed returned, that she began to worry.

______________________

Envy set the golden haired boy, now unconscious, on the ground. The underground mansion's basement was indeed the perfect place for torture he had decided, without Wrath it was impossible to get into, and even then you had to reach the ceiling, which only Envy would be able to using his abilities to transform into a pterodactyl.

"Ugh...where am I?"Ed groaned, trying to sit up, he was quickly knocked down so he had to stare up at a smirking Envy.

"Your in hell Edward Elric, welcome home."he sneered, instead of cussing him out like he'd expected, Ed seemed to flail, curiously taking his foot off he watched as he coughed loudly into his sleeve.

"Ugh..."

"So the disease has already taken effect..."Ed turned to him, jumping up to attack.

"What disease? Why the hell am I here? What do you know?"he demanded, Envy chuckled darkly, circling the boy until he came close to his ear.

"You, Edward Elric, are dying."

* * *

AN: Okay, I like the doors comment by Dante, still on my top ten list,but Envy's comment here should've been cannon, "Your in hell Edward Elric, welcome home." I mean, come on, that is such an Envy (or any other evil dude) thing to say! Next chapter you dsicover the mystery of my high rating (It doesn't seem like it needs it for anything but cussing), so if your not into torture then you should get out of here, I would say what type, but that will give it away.


	7. Chapter 7

**VII. Pain**

Envy glared down at the boy who stared at him in shock, clutching his throat weakly, as if unsure whether or not to believe him. He stood and Envy allowed it, well aware he was in for a show, he frowned angrily and pulled Envy forward, his eyes furious, Envy so wanted to start the physical torture then, but mental was just as fun.

"What the hell are you talking about!"he screamed, his intensifying, Envy smirked.

"Did you honestly think it was possible?Sacrificial lambs for your precious deity? Heh, and we though you were some sort of prodigy."Ed seemed frozen, as if realizing something, he let go sliding one hand to his chest carefully. He let out a gargled sort of choke, as if officially accepting it. Envy's smirk deepened, now he could start the games. He slid closer and slid his hand to Ed's chest, some part of him, probably the part that still called Hohenheim 'father', was disgusted by this, the rest couldn't wait to pounce.

"Ugh..."Ed said staring at the new hand on his chest.

"Poor little Edo, still a virgin aren't you?"Envy smirked at Ed's stunned face,"I'll fix that."he watched the fear splay over the younger's face in his second realization of the day. He saw the signs, Ed preparing to fight him, and quickly punched his chest, stunning him and sending him into another wild coughing fit, while he was distracted Envy quickly rammed him into the wall, which didn't help his coughing fit, but insured it wouldn't happen later on. Smirking, transform to have four arms, a useful trick, and using the first set, pinned Ed's arms, while his other set pulled off Ed's pants.

"No!"he screamed, trying desperately to squirm out his iron tight grasp,"Please no!"he begged, slightly breathless. Envy smirked, the disease was quite useful to him. Smirking as he felt Ed's panicked face at the pleading face Ed made as his pants hit the ground. Envy had to use both hands to get him to turn around, his cheek press against the wall so he could watch Envy's face. He continued to struggle, but it had lost some of it's fire, the coughing fits had obviously weakened him somewhat.

"Let's make you a man bastard blood."Envy smirked and transformed his skort off. One set of arms still held Ed's arms, while the other set positioned his stiff waist. Smirking he slid in, loving the sound of Ed's pitiful scream, the second time he slid in, Ed was silent, but Envy could easily see how hard he bit his lip. lifting his fourth arm he pried upon the mouth, for the third thrust Ed had no choice but to scream. To Ed it seemed to go on forever, to Envy it ended to soon. He let go, transforming away the extra arms and watching as Ed collapsed to the ground, sobbing and trying to stand but unable to do so with how badly his rear was smarting.

Envy watched in amusement, like a child watching a tipped over beedle, as Ed tried to lift himself up. Finally, the boy used his skort to pull upword, slightly making Envy cringe, he had forgotten a while ago that the skort was just an extension of his skin. As he stood, panting, wheezing, and still slightly sobbing, he reached over and slapped him. He simply grinned.

"Sorry whore, I don't think we should go another round with you all bloody. I'll send down Lust later though, I'm sure that you two whores will have tons of fun together."Ed winced, still managing to stay standing until Envy transform into a bird and flew to the ceiling, waiting for the inevitable. Ed slid back to the ground sobbing and trying to become comfortable against the wall, he couldn't sleep on his back after all. Envy smirked one last smirk at the sight of Ed's bloodied sobbing form and disappeared through the small hole Wrath had left for him, this was going to be a fun game, and maybe Wrath would play a little bit of it to...

Envy stared in shock at the sight he saw on the upper levels. The younger Elric, Alphonse, stood before them. It shouldn't be possible, the underground mansion was undetectable, unless...he glared at the sight of weeds, so the code he'd left was nearly impossible to solve in a day, someone had helped out the boy, looking arounding at the weeds decorating the mansion, he easily made the deduction of who, the Tringhams. He transformed into his normal form, enjoying Al's widened eyes as he spotted the blood left over on Envy's thighs.

"Heh, what luck, I just get through with on Elric, and the other appears."he shrugged helplessly, smirking all the while.

"What the hell did you do to my brother?"Al demanded, running forward, ready to punch him, Envy could have dodged easily, but instead gripped the fist tight.

"It doesn't matter what I did to your precious little brother, he's going to die any way."

"What the hell are you talking about?"Al demanded, trying not to look out for Russel, he was the back up, hidden among the plants he transmuted here, he was suppose to be finding Ed quickly while he distracted the homunculi, so far only Envy had appeared.

"Heh,"Envy shrugged again,"isn't it obvious? Or hasn't your big brother told you?"Al scowled.

"Tell me dammit!"he tried to ignore how much he sounded like his brother, he needed to find him quickly.

"Your brother,"Envy smirked,"is dying because his lungs are shrinking, taking in less and less oxygen, and in a few months he will be unable to breathe without aid, and then..."Envy's smirk deepened at Al's widening eyes.

"No! That's...that's not possible..."he sounded lost, unable to stand the very thought of it, Envy enjoyed every minute of it.

"Oh yes, it is. He didn't even realize that he was losing them. Your brother's little sacrificial lambs bought him times, his disappearing lungs bought him your bodies."Al stared in horrified shock at his hands, before glaring.

"Well so what! We'll just keep offering up lambs!"Al shouted, Envy smirked.

"Do you really think it's that easy? The gate won't take it unless it's for toll, you're aware of that, aren't you?"he watched as Al's glare deepened, yes he did realize.

"Shut up! I'll save brother, even if I have to wear auto-mail the rest of my life, I'll save him! But first, I'll kill you!"he shouted,running forward, Envy smirked and transformed so that Ed stood before the youngest Elric.

"Oh, can you kill me when I look like this?"he asked, his eyes imploring, Al winced but his frown intensified.

"Yes! I'll do anything for brother...even if it means to kill you in his form!"Envy grinned.

"If you'll do anything, what will you do when he wants to die? What will you do when his only life force is a breathing machine and he stares up at you and says,"he imitated Ed's voice perfectly,"I want to die."Al froze, as if unable to move at the very thought of it, he clutched his head, shaking furiously.

"No...it won't happen...brother will...brother won't do that to me!"He screamed, rushing forward he transmutated a javalin and stabbed Envy.

"Eh,"he shrugged,"it doesn't matter anyway, you'll have to kill me several times over, can you do it again?"Al growled, and pulled out the javelin, pushing it again into Envy as he healed.

"Heh, how long can you do that before you won't be able to tell the difference any more? How long before your blind with rage and I replace myself with the real one, will you still stab forward?"Al scowled.

"Shut up! Shut the hell up!"he screamed, stabbing forward again.

"It doesn't matter to me, even if you killed me, you'd still be killing a brother."he smirked and transformed into his original form," After all, I'm the original eldest Elric."Al pulled out his javelin again in shock, giving Envy his chance. Quickly he kicked the boy, sending him crashing into the wall.

"Ugh..."he moaned.

"I think I'll make my escape before the little weed-grower gets me."smirking he transformed into a black cat and disappearing out a window.

"Fletcher?"Al asked, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Are you okay Al?"the boy ran forward, having been hidden behind transmuted plants.

"Yeah, is Russel getting Ed?"he asked,standing.

"He should be, brother found a hole nearby, he couldn't see much out of it, but he managed to break it open far enough to jump down."Al nodded.

"Are you sure your okay Al? Winry said that you had a fever yesterday."

"Yeah, but I'm fine now, the important thing is that we get brother."Fletcher nodded.

"Okay, I'll take you to the hole."

_______________________________

Ed felt...he couldn't describe the awful black feeling that had settled into his chest. What was the point in living? He might as well lie down and suffocate himself, it was what he deserved, after all, all he was doing was hurting Al...

"Ed?"he blinked, unable to see properly through his tears, blond short hair...Russel Tringham.

"Ugh..."he moaned, curling up slightly so that he couldn't see his nude lower half.

"Listen to me Ed, I'm going to pick you up, okay?"he didn't respond, half wishing that Russel would leave so he could lay down, the other half

"Guh..."he groaned as Russel picked him up, it hurt, but still, the embrace felt safer than Envy's grip, he didn't cuddle inward like his body seemed to want, but lay stiffly in the younger's arms, wondering when the sadistic homunculi would show up and kill them both.

"Russel! Did you find him?"was that Al's voice calling down?

"Yes, but he's in bad shape, he's not responding!"he wished Al would come soon, because he was to selfish to truly release his hold on the younger brother.

"I'm going to bring you up!"Al shouted down, he distantly felt himself being lifted up, but it didn't really matter, as long as he got to see Al again. somehow, in the few seconds it took to reach the hole, Ed managed to fall asleep, and very possibly dream.

* * *

AN: This chapter is pretty much a homage to what got me started on FMA, I mean, I had been watching SasuNaru vids and ended up watch "From the Ashes" one of the best FMA AMV's out there, but that didn't turn me onto FMA completely, I was still prett high in my Narutardation, then one day, I got over Naruto's awesomeness (Mostly out of boredom) and began to read FMA, but not before I watched one AMV that told me I absolutely _had _Read/watch it. An Edvy vid that covered what I believed to be Envy and Ed's past (In truth, it showed Ed's past and present, Envy's present, and Wrath, who freakin looks like kid!Envy) called....

I forgot, sorry!


	8. Chapter 8

**IIX. Weakness**

_Trisha Elric had two sons, she'd always known they were here boys, just hers and hers alone, and nobody else could possibly have her boys. She smiled and cuddled them to her breast, they were such perfect little boys, so eager to learn, so happy to simply follow behind her. These where her boys, and no one, not even her beloved Hohenheim could steal the from her._

Sloth stared at the picture she'd gleamed from the wreckage. It was simple photo, a man and woman with two children. But when she'd found it she stood and stared at it in shock. In the picture, smiling happily besides Donte' ex-lover was..._her_.

It felt odd, to stare at her old face, and remember.

_Trisha's first son was named Edward, because she had always wanted to have a little boy named Edward as a child. He smiled and played often, looking like a clone of his father at this age. He was moody as well, mean to anything he thought would steal his mother's affections, but unusually loving (after the first year or so) to his younger brother. He was the leader between them, always making trouble, but not purposefully. He was a good boy, just not all the time._

She traced the little boy's face slowly, it was so easy to remember back in time to those days. The little golden haired boy, was he truly her son, her little boy? Was he the one who tried to bring her back with only the best intentions, only to ruin her life forever? Could it truly be that horrid boy she wished to kill and the little boy she'd give her life for where one and the same?

_Her second son was named Alphonse, Hohenheim's choice, he claimed that it'd been a popular name when he was a child, Trisha didn't feel the need to point out that his childhood had been over 400+ years ago. Al was a quiet child, always so frightened to be far from her, but if he had to, he would follow Ed to hell and back, he was a follower, but sometimes she saw his potential leader, as he led the younger children in marching for a parade on his brother's birthday, it was if he could do anything for his brother. It worried her sometimes, but they were both good boys, they'd never do anything bad._

She slid her hand over the young baby's face, could this baby-faced child truly be the suit of armor that followed Fullmetal everywhere? Could it truly be? She sighed and moved her hand toward the crying man's face. This man...Hohenheim of Light...Dante's ex-lover...her ex-lover? She was so confused, her past a jigsaw puzzle nearly impossible to figure out.

_Trisha had a husband as well, a handsome, charming husband. she adored him more than she could ever say. He staid with her until he could no longer stand the misery he was convinced he brought her, his decomposing body...but she loved him. She would've loved him if he was nothing more than a talking skeleton, for she adored him, and he adored her. They were perfect for each other._

"Sloth?"she turned, spotting Lust with ease.

"What is it?"

"Your remembering aren't you?"Sloth raised an eyebrow and tried not to show her shock.

"I don't know what your talking about."Lust rolled her eyes.

"Your an awful mother, your eldest son is dying."Sloth froze, Edward, her Edward was....dying? She tried desperately to ignore the clench of her heart in her chest, she had no soul, so such a thing would be impossible.

"I have no son." she answered, her eyes cold.

"Is that so? Who are you really Sloth? Julia Douglas or Trisha Elric?"Sloth looked at her boldly.

"I am Sloth."she answer, Lust shook her head.

"You seem so convinced...but in all truth, do you actually believe that? Your sons will accept you, go to them, comfort the dying one, and rekindle your love for the living one."Sloth stared at her.

"I don't love my sons, if I return to them, I'll just kill them."Lust smirked.

"Ah, so that's it, your afraid that you'll hurt them, you won't."Sloth looked up at her, scowling.

"How do you know that? How do you know I won't do it?"she demanded, trying not to show how horrified she was at the idea, Lust smiled softly, an emotion Sloth had never seen.

"Because of that, your afraid to hurt them, so you won't."Sloth looked into Lust's violet eyes and sighed.

"Tell Pride I'm taking off on a few sick days."she said, Lust nodded, watching as the fellow humonculi slipped out before uttering what her mind kept repeating.

"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children all gone."

_______________________________

Ed had a fever by the time they got him home and cleaned up, he was silent, unresponsive, and even Al's best attempts (even going so far as to call him the shortest chibi on an micro-organism) had not brought a rise out of him, the illness that left him bed-ridden didn't help at all. Al had to be dragged away to sleep, Winry the one left to watch him. She was exhausted, and wanted desperately for Ed to sit up and complain and make everything alright like Ed always did. But Ed couldn't do it this time, he was like a broken toy that not even alchemy could make right again. She sighed and sponged his forehead, vaguely noticing the rain. It was a few moments later the knocking started, well aware that no one else was awake she sighed and walked to the door, opening it up she helped the soaked stranger inside.

"Would you like some coffee?"she asked kindly, not expecting the small looking form to stand up straighter.

"No...could you...your Winry Rockbell, right?"she blinked in surprise, wondering how the stranger could possibly know her name.

"Um, yeah, who are you?"she was aware that she was blunt, but it was her charm. The figure seemed hesitant.

"I'm...I'm Trisha Elric."Winry stared in shock as the woman pulled off her hood, staring at the face of her best friend's dead mother.

"Your..."she paused, trying to calm down,"why are you here?"the woman smiled at her tiredly, showing off the years that she had not aged.

"My son is dying, I had to come."Winry frowned.

"Well you haven't been here for awhile, so you can't have him!"Trisha blinked curiously, before realizing what Winry had assumed, she chuckled dryly.

"No dear, I'm no angel, far from it. But,"she paused, looking at the girl pleadingly,"I want another chance."Winry stared at her a moment with hard eyes.

"Okay, but if you hurt him, you will die, a very slow and painful death."Trisha nodded, smiling gratefully.

"I know, I know that well, and I promise to leave the moment I do anything like it and let you kill me."Winry nodded, satisfied, and escorted the mother to her dying son.

"Ed's in here, he's asleep right now and he's been unresponsive for awhile,"Winry looked down shamefacedly," we're afraid he might've been...raped."her voice was so small on the last word that if she hadn't had her enhanced hearing she might not have heard, she tightened her fists, well aware of what had to have happened.

"I'll...talk to him."Winry nodded.

"When your done you need see Al too."she reminded, Trisha smiled.

"I know, I have a lot to do, and I don't think I'll ever get to do it. I can only stay until Sunday, then I have to go back, and I don't want anybody but Ed and Al to know I was there."Winry nodded.

"I understand, but be careful, they went through alot for you, and all you did in return was hurt them, for that reason I hate you. But they still love you, even now, so I won't stop you from seeing them." she nodded in understanding.

_There was a little girl too, a next door neighbor to Trisha. She was her boy's best friends, and sometimes Trisha felt jealous of the little girl, but she also understood. One day, her boys wouldn't be her's anymore, one day they would belong to the petite little blond, and she hated the girl for that, but she loved her for it as well. She would not always be there for her boys, but this girl would be, and that alone made her want to weep._

_

* * *

_

AN:This is what happens when I get writer's block, I didn't even want Trisha in here, but noooo! But then again, it's helpful to Ed, you'll see how in the next chapter, also, this is indeed the major plotpoint Lust starts. So yeah...

What do you guys think about the whole essay to normal story switch off? Was it a good idea or should I have used a diffrent format?


	9. Chapter 9

**IX. Heaven and Hell**

Ed could hear voices, familiar voices. He cracked his eyes open to see who was talking this late at night during a storm. He was greeted with a flash of flaxen hair pulled into a ponytail, a distance away, _dad_, a voice murmured in his head. Then another, brunette, _mom_. Had it all been a fevered dream? Or was he perhaps dead? he didn't know if Hohenheim was dead, but it was highly plausible with how long he'd been gone.

"Mom..."he managed out, his voice hazy with fever and sleep,"am I dead?"his mother blinked before smiling warmly at him.

"No baby, your alive, and your going to keep on living until you can't for Al and I, okay baby?"she reached over hesitantly and pushed back his bangs, he moved into her touch, missing it.

"I had a bad dream..."he murmured to her softly,"you were dead and dad was gone and Al and I failed at a human transmutation to bring you back and then a homunculi kidnapped me and told me I was dying...I was so scared..."Trisha nodded, petting his hair softly, she pulled him to her chest gently as if afraid.

"It's okay baby, it was just a bad dream, it's over now."Ed nodded.

"Where's Al?"he asked.

"He's asleep baby, we're over at the Rockbell's. Winry is such a lovely girl."Ed nodded tiredly against her chest.

"Yeah, she and Al are gonna get married someday."Trisha smiled.

"Who will you marry baby?"

"I dunno...I don't think I can get married..."

"Oh, why not baby?"

"Cause I don't want to leave you by yourself, I'll stay at home with you, Al and Winry can have grandchildren."Trisha smiled at him softly.

"Your the sweetest baby in the world. I love you."Ed clutched her tightly.

"Don't leave me mom, I don't want you...I don't want you to leave, cause then my nightmare will be real."

"Sh, baby, it's okay, mama's here, mama's here..."she cooed, rocking him back into sleep. She settled him onto the bed and settled back onto his mountains of pillows.

"Mama..."he muttered once more, before slipping back into a dreamless bliss of sleep.

__________________________

Alphonse staid awake a long time after Winry sent him to bed. His mind going a mile a minute as he thought of all the things that could've happened to his brother, but even that which he prayed for distractions was in fact a distraction from his real stream of thought, Ed was dying, and he was dying slowly and painfully for _him_. He jumped in surprise as the guest room's door slid open, he stared in open shock at the sight of his mother, soaked to the bone but still intact. She moved forward, smiling at him pleasantly, he simply watched as she sat down beside him.

"How are you Al?"she asked.

"M-mom?"he spluttered in shock, she nodded encouragingly,"Are you here to....to take away brother?" she chuckled and daintily placed her arm around him, he couldn't put a point on it, but it felt somewhat different then when he was younger.

"Your the seond person to ask that, but if I was here to take away your brother, why would I still be here? Granted, it's a short visit, but, I'm still here."Al nodded. Silence passed, and he stared down at the floor.

"Where did you go mom...when you...died?"he asked her quietly.

"I went to..."she paused, before answering him,"to heaven, and when I leave I'll go back,"_to hell_,"to wait for you both." Al nodded.

"Brother says god hates him, that even if he went, god would send him back."

"That's just how your brother is, but if it bothers you, you should tell him."Al shook his head.

"No, I don't mind it...but I want him to go to heaven to."Trisha nodded.

"Come and pray with me, we'll pray for Ed's soul together."Al shook his head.

"I haven't prayed in a long time mom...I don't want to until Ed prays too."Trisha nodded.

"I understand, when that happens, I want to be there too, to here your bedtime prayers said together again, I miss it." Al nodded.

"I know, I'll tell him for you, maybe we'll pray that your soul is taken care of by god."she wondered vaguely if her soul was actually in heaven while her mind and body remained here, in hell.

"Yes, I'll listen everyday for it."the rain was beginning to let up, slowly.

"Mom...I love you."she nodded in understanding, hugging him to her chest.

"Go to sleep little one, mama will sing you away."Al nodded, suddenly overcome with the urge to close his eyes.

"Love you..."he murmured.

"_Bye and bye, bye and bye,_

_The moon is half a lemon pie,_

_The mouse that stole the other half,_

_Scattered star-crumbs across the sky,_

_Bye and bye, bye and bye,_

_Now my baby don't you cry,_

_The moon is still high above the hill."_she sang, listening as his breath evened to that of sleep and as she did with her eldest, laid him down. She stood, and hesitated, finally leaning down placing a kiss against his forehead. She begin to head outside, unable to bare staying any longer.

"Trisha?"she turned in shock, easily spotting the tiny woman in her nightdress.

"Pinako?"she asked, to be honest she had thought that she might've been dead, but apparently that assumption was wrong.

"Come and have a cup of coffee with me."Trisha smiled, still the same commanding old woman, shaking her head.

"I can't, I have to leave now."Pinako nodded.

"I'll expect you at the wedding."Trisha's smile deepened.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"And the funeral."Trisha's smile dropped, replaced by hopeless eyes.

"I'll stay by the grave all day for him."Pinako nodded.

"I'll see you then."Pinako waved good bye, and Trisha waved back.

"Take care of my boys."she said, Pinako raised an eyebrow.

"I was under the impression they belonged to Winry."Trisha smiled painfully.

"They do, she's the better woman."Pinako nodded.

"As long as you know."Trisha turned then, exiting into the now clear night. Staring up at the sky she smirked at the irony, a half-moon hanging in the sky with hundreds of stars around it, she turned her head, staring into the only lighted window in the house, before sighing and deciding to head to the underground mansion, Wrath might make her feel better.

* * *

AN: Ah, the joys of motherhood...not.

Now to explain about Ed, it's a natural reaction to think bad events are just nightmares when you have no proof they happened, late at night and fevered, a flash of gold-like hair and his mtoher beside him, what proof could he possibly have to say that any of the last few years happened?

Sorry to athiesist, agnostics, and people of non-christian or non-catholic religion, but I can see Trisha leading her two little boys to a tiny country church every sunday, can't you?


	10. Chapter 10

**X. Sun and Moon**

"Tell me a story mommy!"Wrath demanded, cuddling into her waist, she wanted to strangle him for trying to replace her boys, an idea already echoing through her mind, she tried desperately to ignore this thought process and instead turned her focus back to Wrath, smiling at him softly.

"Once upon a time..."she began, and Wrath wiggled in excitement,"there was a very happy family, a mommy and daddy and two little sons. But one day, the daddy had to leave for a very important reason, and so the mommy became very sad, and one day she had to go away to a different place then the daddy. The two little sons were not happy, so they tried to bring her back using alchemy, creating a homunculi in the process who had their mother's very special memories. The little sons did not know this, and began to go on adventures together, slowly forgetting their missing mommy's homunculi. Until one day, the eldest discovered he was very very ill, and would die soon. This made everyone sad, so the mommy's homunculi came and visited to make him feel better, but he died anyway. The end." Wrath frowned.

"That's not a good ending mommy!"she raised an eyebrow at him.

"How should it have ended then?"

"Well if the mommy homuculi still loves them she should have saved the brother!"

"And how would she do that?"

"Well...I remember that some times people would offer themselves for others, so maybe she could've sacrificed herself for the brother!"she stared at him for a moment, and closed her eyes tightly, trying not to think about it. The idea was reinforced by Wrath's story ending, but she couldn't...she absolutely wouldn't go through with it!

"Time for bed Wrath."she said simply tucking the child in.

"Love you mommy."he said, closing his eyes. He didn't need sleep, but she made him sleep anyway.

"Yes."she said, because she'd had enough with lying for the day, and slipped out of the room, hoping to figure out what to do next.

_______________________________

Ed woke up tiredly, his fever gone, and slightly more responsive, much to all their joy. they crowded into the recovery room, discussing small things, because any questions on what happened in the mansion would make him seize up and stop talking for nearly half an hour. but other than that, he was acting like himself.

"Do you still want to go to Arquoya Ed?"Winry asked when the conversation started to run down.

"Yeah! This is just a delay on our vacation, okay? We'll still go!"Winry and Al nodded, thougth worry lingered in their stances.

"Maybe Russel and Fletcher should come along?"the two blonds smiled.

"I'm afraid not, you were lucky to catch us in Resimbool as it was. Fletcher and I stopped in Central to visit our mother, we were heading back to Xenotime and caught you going into the secret passage."Winry nodded.

"Okay."she avoided going further into the subject, the whole rescue mission had been nothing but luck. Envy had left a note with how to get to the secret passage and into the underground mansion area, but it had been encoded, luckily Al and Winry had cracked it, then ran into the Tringhams on their way into it.

"Which reminds me, our train is leaving soon, I apoligize for our abrupt depature, but we have to go." The Elrics and Winry nodded in understanding.

"We understand."Russel nodded and stood.

"It was nice meeting you Winry, and seeing you in you proper forms Elrics."they prepared to leave.

"Oh, I'll walk you to the train station!"Winry offered, sensing that the brother's need some alone times. As soon as the house was emptied by all but the two silence seemed to prevail.

"I had a strange dream last night Al..."Ed began, Al nearly jumped in surprise, Ed hadn't been starting conversations at all, joining in on them mostly.

"Really?"Ed nodded.

"Yeah, it was strange, I dreamt that this was all a dream, and mom was still alive, and that I was sick and had to get better." Al looked at him in shock.

"You had a dream about mom to?"Ed blinked in surprise.

"Um..yeah, you did to?"

"Yeah, but in my dream she was an angel who had come to visit for the night, and she told me that she was waiting for us in heaven and that she missed how we used to say our bedtime prayers together."Ed nodded.

"I'm dying."he said after a moment of silence.

"I know."Al answered. They stared at each other for a moment, and it was odd, because of the two things that met.

Ed had always been the sun, bright and buoyant. Al had always been the moon, quiet and thoughtful. But now, as those golden eyes met Al's Hazel ones, their roles where switched.

The sun, bright and full of life with a dark spots along him.

The moon, small and oh so hopeless, already dead.

Then they blinked and the moment ended, but the roles remained. The dead sun and the glowing moon.

* * *

AN: I know, really short, but surely Wrath's appearance and lines made up for it? I don't generally like to wirte Wrath, but he's surprisingly easy for a pyscho, and even if I have a slight grudge against him for stealing Sloth from the Elrics (Oh, did you notice?), I actually kind of like him, but only if he has Izumi around, or Sloth is mentally cussing him out.

I think the last few line sof this chapter are pretty damn deep to, and so therefore worth the shortness, well I think so anyway.


	11. Chapter 11

**XI. Waves**

Arquoya was like it had always been, sunny and bright. The tourists spot, not that they'd been able to tell, the late train arrived at ten PM, leaving them to rush to a motel and hope for the best. Ed woke, cheerfully, he was back to his old self almost, as long as he was not reminded of Envy or the kidnapping he was fine, though his nightmares were far from better, and he was getting breathless easily, the jog to the motel had left him a bit winded. He got dress along with Al, bathing suits and tank tops, then walked downstairs to meet Winry, who stood shyly in a sundress similar to the one she wore as a child.

"I didn't know you had another dress like that Winry."Al said, surprised. Winry blushed shyly, running a hand through her loose ponytail.

"Yeah, I thought that since we were at a beach I might as well get some use out of it."Al nodded.

"So where should we go first? We could go to the beach, grab some breakfast, or maybe visit Clara."Winry blinked.

"Who's Clara?"Ed quickly grabbed control of the situation before it could rise into a quarrel between his two friends.

"Old friend, she's actually a thief known as Psiren. Don't worry about her crushing on Al, she prefers to hit on me."Al and Winry blushed in unison.

"Ed!"Winry screamed, throwing her trusty wrench, he sighed.

"Jeez, I'm going to get a concussion one of these days!"Ed complained.

"So what are we going to do?"Al asked.

"Mah, why don't you two head to the beach while I find Psiren, while you two are busy making out I might get lucky to!"their blushes deepened if possible.

"Stop making sexual references!"Winry screamed, Ed smirked at her.

"Than stop making it references and start making it fact!"Winry scowled before grabbing Al's hands.

"Come on Al, let's go shopping!"Ed smiled, watching as his brother was dragged off helplessly. He smiled and walked along, losing himself in remembrance of the old days at this town, it wasn't like him he knew, but now that his goals had been completed it seemed that the memories wouldn't leave him be.

"So you came back."he turned in surprise at the familiar voice. it was Clara for sure, dressed up as a nurse again.

"What? A hospital scheduled for demolition again?"she smiled.

"Nope, though good guess, this time it's to pay for people who can't afford hospital bills."Ed nodded.

"Well at least the poor sap who figures it out won't know as soon as we did."Clara nodded.

"I switched up my plan as soon as you two left."Ed smirked.

"Your far to tricky, you know? Want to come to the beach with me?"Clara blinked, looking around.

"Where's your brother, the one who had a crush on me?"

"Eh, off with some girl, came out of his armor if you'll believe it."Clara smiled.

"I'd love to see him them, as for now, I suppose I can join you, is it a date?"Ed grinned.

"I'm still only fourteen, but if your into that sort of thing..."he raised an eyebrow suggestively. She smirked back at him.

"I've broken a lot of rules, how about a new game? I've got an extra suit, why don't you help with a heist?"Ed grinned.

"No thanks, I'm not into the whole stealing things, more into trespassing, I've heard there's a few private beaches around here." Clara nodded.

"I hope you aren't as wimpy as you were at twelve, I only have a bikini underneath this, and not a full coverage bikini either." Ed grinned.

"I know a guy who would've tried to charm you right out of the nurse outfit as soon as you said that."Clara giggled.

"That's why I like prepubescents, they aren't like other men."Ed smiled, following behind her toward the private beaches.

__________________________________

"You've failed Envy,"Dante said, her eyes glaring into green-haired man's head,"and ruined the plan." Envy smirked at her.

"Did you honestly think I cared about the plan?"Dante scowled at him.

"Can't you follow some orders?"she demanded, Envy smirked at her.

"Frankly your plans are getting in the way of my own, you can't even create stones anymore, your useless."she glared at him.

"That doesn't matter, once we get the plan back on track everything will be perfect."Envy shook his head, smirking all the while.

"You don't seem to understand,"he said, transforming his arm into a blade and shoving it through her," _mother dearest_, I wasn't going to stay anyway, your plans are getting in my way and I don't like it. Enjoy the afterlife."he smirked, watching her eyes widen in horror.

"Will...iam."she gasped out before dying. Envy scowled, pulling his arm free.

"Haven't you learned your lesson yet? My life is not yours to toy with, I know very well that you helped the bastard, I've known it from the very start, this was inevitable."he turned and left, feeling successful and ready to visit the Elrics, he wasn't expecting Sloth to appear.

"You've killed Dante."she commented lightly, leaning against the doorway.

"So? It's not like any of us actually believed her."Sloth shook her head.

"Of course we didn't believe her, but that is not the matter at hand."Envy tilted his head curiously at her.

"What the hell is up with you?"he didn't get a chance to finish as Sloth held up a small bag, he stared in shock as she manipulated water he hadn't even noticed stepping into to wrap around him tightly, squeezing him until he died, coming back yet again as a pissed homunculi.

"This is a matter you would not understand Envy, even I do not fully understand it. All I truly understand is that you have done something terrible, and I will kill you for that." Envy glared at her, before smirking and jumping into the air away from her.

"Do you honestly think you can defeat me?"he asked, underestimating her with ease.

"Do you honestly think you can defeat _me_?"she asked back, easily using the evaporation in the air to catch him, yet again suffocating him.

"What the hell..."

"Wondering why your so weak? I thought it'd be obvious, it isn't as hard as you think to find you ashes, it's childish, hiding them in a place very special to you, yet far away. The place you were raised in, Ishval."Envy scowled at her, lunging forward.

"Shut the fuck up!"he screamed, only to be suffocated, followed by extreme dehydration as she soaked free of all the water in his body, and then an explosion as she shoved as much water as possible into it.

Over and over, until finally he lay dead and disfigured on the ground, unable to even transform into a creature to escape.

* * *

AN: So Envy's dead, for those of you against his whole rape-act, this if for you! Also, the reason why Ed's not like completely traumatized and still able to touch people (As you will discover in the next chapter) is because of Sloth's visit and also because...well if you were dying and only had a few days left would you honestly let that get in your way?


	12. Chapter 12

**XII. Sensual**

Edward stared at Clara, his golden eyes boring into her bikini-clad form as they sat together, watching the ocean. It was silent for the most part, simply enjoying themselves in relaxation. He knew one of them needed to make a move but couldn't bring himself to ruin this tranquil feel spreading over the area.

"You succeeded in finding the philosopher's stone?"he blinked, before smiling nervously.

"Kind of, we discovered how to use it, but we didn't. I figured out an alternative route, it didn't work out as well as I thought it would, but Al his body back and that's all that really matters."she nodded.

"I understand, hearing that, it makes me feel like theres hope for Aquoya."Ed nodded.

"If I had time I would help, maybe I could get Al to, he might not have seemed it in armor, but he's the better alchemist."Clara raised an eyebrow.

"Which reminds me, you say he's off with a girl, and your not stalking them?"Ed chuckled.

"I know the girl, grew up with her in fact, I'm kind of hoping he's putting whatever the hell type of kitten-loving move he can put on her while I'm not there."Clara chuckled.

"Fullmetal, how do you expect your brother to make a move if you can't even make one?"Ed smirked.

"How do you expect me to make a move when your making all of them?"Clara smiled.

"Touche, now work your magic shrimp."he glared but didn't burst out, trying to think of a way to properly start, before deciding that the best way was the blunt approach, without even speaking his leaned forward, kissing her groping her through what might as well have been paper. By her responsiveness, he guess that he'd chosen the proper one.

_______________________

While the eldest Elric was getting it on with a thief who was having quite the identity crisis, the youngest was staring mind-numbed as Winry paraded Fall and Winter outfits on for him. He'd really, really thought that Winry wasn't the type, but apparently he'd assumed wrong.

"What do you think about this one Al?"she asked. By this point in time, he decided that the only way he could get out of this was by taking his brother's advice.

"Frankly, I think you look best without anything at all."Winry stood, froze, and turned the prettiest shade of scarlet he'd ever seen on her before.

"A-al!"she shouted embarrassed. Al stood, and deciding that spending nearly three hours staring at Winry parading outfits for him, he deserved it, he pounced. Winry, after getting over the initial shock of being pinned to the dressing room wall and kissed by Alphonse Elric, the boy she'd grown up with and rejected once before, she became _very_ responsive.

"W...Winry...be my...girlfriend?"he asked, panting slightly.

"Yeah."she answered dazedly as he swooped in hungrily for another kiss. A while later Winry decided that the dressing room was one of her favorite places in the world as Al lay panting on top of her.

____________________

"That was pretty good for a shrimp."Clara shrugged, trying to gleam her bathing suit bottom from the sand.

"I'm not a shrimp."he pouted, sitting quite calmly in the sand, naked as Adonis. To be honest, he was exhausted, and wished desperately he wasn't dying so that he could lay in the sand without worrying about his damn fits. Until Clara had insisted on getting up he'd been about to fall asleep. But she had gotten him up so now he had to sit and admire Clara's ass from afar as she still continued to search for a bottom tangled in her hair. He didn't feel particularly nice enough to tell her.

"I'd be intrested in doing it again if you wanted."

"Call me up anytime, I'll be happy to help you out."Clara smirked at him.

"Your such a smart ass."she chided.

"And you have bikini bottoms in your hair."he answered. She reached for her hair and scowled, pulling the pair free carefully.

"Asshole."she murmured.

"I love how much you seem to love my ass."he smirked at her.

"Heh, at least you funnier, come on and get dress, I want a proper dinner date out of you."Ed raised an eyebrow before slipping into his clothes.

"I hope your happy with fish-and-chips, because Al will kill me if he finds out I got lobster again."Clara giggled.

"Fish-and-chips it is."

* * *

AN: Oh yeah! I had to do it, I really did. This is, in fact, the chapter the entire story is rated ofr, and it isn't even graphic! Well, it was in my mind, but it's mostly rated for the implications. I hope your ready for the next chapter, because it is angsty as hell, I mean, it's even...oh wait, telling you that would spoil the ending.

On the count of three raise your hand if you still think Ed will live?

1...2...3...REVEIW!

Okay, only two more chapters, be excited!


	13. Chapter 13

**XIII. Rain**

The ride to Central was solemn one for two reasons, the first, that Ed knew it would be his last trip, the second because of what they had to do in Central. Even if he had wanted to stay, it wasn't possible, not with his disease, it was probably better if they didn't find out until his last moments. It was as if the sky had sensed Ed's turmoil, and released torrents of rain to heighten the mood. As the came to the gates Ed turned.

"Al, stay here okay? Your not my houseplant anymore."Al smiled at the joke.

"I'll stay brother, but hurry back."Ed nodded and walked through the doors to the all to familiar area, so many memories seemed to jump at him from this same door, and he hesitated, this would be his last time standing in front of it. He took a deep breath and prepared himself, gripping the handle, he allowed one last wave of nostalgia to flow through him before slamming it open.

To say Team Mustang was surprised to see the drenched alchemist was a bit of an understatement, but that was okay, they had missed him, though his report over the phone from Risembool had been rather short and undetailed.

"Hey Ed, where's Al?"Ed resisted the urge to doing something really stupid like start crying and grinned proudly instead.

"Downstairs, he's not allowed to come up anymore."they smiled.

"Sneak him up Ed! We all want to see him!"Havoc encouraged. Before he could answer Roy appeared out of his office.

"You know, it's so much easier for me to call him up."Ed blinked in surprise.

"Okay."he said, watching as he dialled the number.

"He'll be up here quickly, now care to explain why you're here Full Metal?"Ed grinned, even though his urge to break down was growing bigger with every moment.

"Wait until Ed gets up here, kay?"they raised eyebrows at his behavior but nodded. As the door creaked open every eye was on it, much Al's worry.

"Uhm...hi?"he said nervously.

"Wow! Is that really you?"

"Of course it's him!"Ed complained,"what'd you expect?" Havoc blinked.

"I always kind of thought he'd be taller..."

"And have a really long ponytail!"Breda piped up.

"And had red eyes."Fury added. Ed glowered at them.

"That was just the armor! This is how Al's suppose to look."any further statements on Al's looks seem to disappear under Ed's furious glower.

"So Fullmetal you were saying?"Ed sighed, turned to his brother for a moment.

"Ready Al?"they watched as Al nodded nervously,"Okay."

"What are y-"Roy was cut off as a watch slammed into his face.

"I quit!"Ed yelled, before speeding off with Al in tow. Team Mustang watched in shock, Roy sighed and slipped the watch into his pocket.

"Excuse me sir, but you don't seem very surprised."Riza spoke up, Roy shook his head.

"That's because I'm not, in all seriousness I would've thought he'd have sent it in the mail with a hastily scrawled out message."Riza's eyes looked perplexed.

"If I may ask sir, why?"

"The only reason Fu-_Edward _joined the military was to get he and his brother's body's back, now that he has succeeded, he has no reason to here anymore. Maybe, when he gets older, he'll come back. but for now, he's finally free, I think that I can understand that he wants shirk off his responsibilities and laze now that his main goals are accomplished. Give it time though, by nineteen we'll have him in the exams again."Riza nodded doubtfully, he really sounded like Roy was trying to convince himself more than her.

As Ed rounded the corner with Al, he turned and hugged his brother tightly, sobbing until he choked in the rain, because Al was the only one in all of Central who know the truth, and it had to stay that way for awhile.

_____________________________

Sloth sighed, watching the scene develop. Her son was going through so much misery, and she was there with the ability to make it right again, yet she couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand the thought of killing herself, it was too horrifying, with a sigh she disappeared into the military building to have a discussion with Roy Mustang, she wouldn't give away her son's secret, no, she wasn't so cruel, but having some help with taking down the Fuhrer might be helpful.

* * *

AN: Uhm...yeah, angsty. Far to angsty, the next and last chapter is slightly fluffy.

Lats votes! Who thinks Ed's going to live? Don't worry if this is complete when your reveiw, I'm curious what you think will happen, to know how my writing style is.


	14. Chapter 14

**IIVX. Death and Defeat**

Al stood in the funeral procession, he didn't cry, because he knew his brother wouldn't want that. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the new Fuhrer, Roy Mustang, was patched up enough to walk, his take over had been abrupt and out of the ordinary, but his dream had been achieved, at a much lower price than his brother's, an eye for his greatest goal to come true. Al remembered back on the last few days of Ed's life, not happy ones at all, sitting in silence, barely able to move anymore, a stolen oxygen tube rigged to his mouth. Those eyes had been exactly as Envy had said they would be, and that frightened Al, it frightened him horribly.

"We are gathered here today-"began the minister, and Al thought how ironic it was, his brother had spent the greater part of his life denouncing god, and here he was receiving a catholic burial. thinking of it reminded him of Ed's last moments.

_"Bro..ther."Ed had weezed out through the tube._

_"You shouldn't talk Ed, you need to preserve your energy."Al said fretfully, Ed shook his head._

_"Mom...said...she...wanted...is...to...pray..."Al easily understood._

_"You want to say our bedtime prayers together?"he asked in surprise, Ed nodded slowly, obviously exhausted,"okay brother." he kneeled down beside his brother, griping one of the once strong hands in his own, wincing at how feeble and weak it now was._

_"Pray..."Ed order._

_"Now I lay me-"Al began._

_"Down...to...sleep..."_

_"I pray the lord my soul to keep."_

_"God...bless..."_

_"Mom and dad and Granny Pinako and Winry and Roy and everyone else."_

_"Amen."Al looked up in shock as he saw those eyes, heard that voice._

_"No brother! No, don't die!"he screamed, but it was far to late as Ed's eyelids shut slowly over his golden eyes,"Please brother! Please don't..."he sobbed, clutching at his brother._

Al sat calmly through the procession, walking calmly to the casket and leaning over to place a kiss on the forehead of his brother. He took one last long look at the far to skinny body and gaunt face, and wondered if it was really worth the trouble that they'd been through.

Winry stood beside him as he walked away, she sobbed into his shoulder, and he held her, and it rained, but not from the sky.

______________________________

Sloth could've felt worse as she watched her own son's funeral, she really could've, but she didn't, she had no soul, her emotions were remembered through her memories, her mind directing which was correct to use. But now, now everything was to numb to do anything at all. She wished to cry, but her last shoulder left to cry on was the one who lay in the casket. She watched in dumbed shock as his son, her precious Edward, was buried, and understood what a terrible mother she was. She turned then, and decided that there was nothing she could do about it, because lying was something she could do everyday.

_"Lady bug, lady bug,_

_Fly away home..."_

______________________________(Here's an added ending for all those that wanted Ed to live, for those who were cheering on his death, don't read this part)

Trisha sighed as she stood beside the alchemist, Russel Tringham, such a darling little friend for her child. Her eldest lay propped up on some pillows in the middle, her youngest watching with unsure eyes at what she was about to.

"Activate the array."she ordered, the Tringham nodded and placed his hands down, she stepped forward enjoying the brief exhilaration of power, before the gate appeared, she smiled at her eldest as she disappeared through, watching his shocked face as the blac hands embraced her.

_____________________________

Fuhrer Roy Mustang looked over the list of State Alchemists, it was a small list granted, but it was definitely a list he liked to look over often, only ten names long, and at the very bottom read the two names he liked to read the most.

_Alphonse __Elric, age 18_

and his all time favorite,

_Edward __Elric, age 19_

_

* * *

_

AN: I am saddened that the last chap in the shortest. Sorry fans! Now, this is obviously me being evil and nice at the same time.

Nice because I've offered you the choice of Ed's life.

Evil, because not only does it disqualify all your votes (though officially, he did die, in my books anyway), but it also makes you feel even more guiltier for ignoring the Alternative available.

Also, Ed would not be a homunculus in the alter ending, it would probally take place a week or so after last chapter, so Ed's still alive and Sloth sacrifices herself to give him back his lungs and possibly his virginty, though I'm not to sure on the last part.

Well anyway, hoped you enjoyed it! ~Ninja0Squirl out!


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